J&J diabetes pill may cause heart risk, FDA staff says

Studies for the drug, which J&J has proposed calling Invokana for adults with Type 2 diabetes, showed higher risk of cardiovascular events in the first 30 days in those taking the pill, Food and Drug Administration staff said today in a report ahead of a Jan. 10 meeting of advisers.

The once-a-day-pill, which expels sugar in the urine after it’s filtered out of the blood by the kidneys, is J&J’s effort to be the first to market with a new class of diabetes treatments known as SGLT2 inhibitors.